Breathing due to fire smoke

[linny81]

I am caught in the San Diego fire area and the smoke in our house from the surrounding fires is hurting my lungs to breath, my sinuses, and burning my eyes.  Should I get an air purifier or leave the area.  I feel a bit claustrophobic.

[caregiver222]

Wow. The saline is a great idea! You are a good M.D.

[Pedentdoc]

To prevent sinusitis, make sure you get nasal saline irrigations once per day and then I carry around a nasal saline spray to use multiple times per day.  It will help the 'body's' natural cleaning mechanism.  Your nose and sinuses have little 'hairs'  called cilia which move mucus from front to back and then as adults we swallow about a liter a day.  It sounds gross but it is the natural cleaning mechanism.  If all those toxins get stuck in the nose you may be in for a sinus infection.  Regarding which saline.....just any over the counter is ok.  You can also make it up yourself with 'pickling' salt 1-3 teaspoons and 1 teaspoon of baking soda in a quart of water. Don't use table salt.  One teaspoon is more like the over the counter saline spray and 3 is called 'hypertonic' which it takes a while to get used to putting in your nose.  Most people can't use to much because your body is 60% salt water anyway.  Caution with hypertension or other serious medical problems like it.
Marcella Bothwell, MD

[caregiver222]

I'll throw in another two cents. The smell comes from volatile hydrocarbons that permeate the walls of houses near forest fires. There are two schools of thought. One school says to paint the walls over as soon as possible. This tends to seal in the toxic materials. The other school says that the best thing to do is to use fans and let the walls "air" for a few months before painting. A third school says to use new wallboard over the old after it is sealed. But if you are near a burned out area the odor will come back in and you may have to wait for a year for overgrowth to solve the problem. If you choose to stay in the area I would contract with a professional decontamination firm to give you advice on removing the smoke odor.  I'm not up on the latest recommendations.

[jannieb54]

Remember what happened to the first responders on 9/11.  Lung disorders for quite a few of them.  Fire personnal I would think would be very susceptable for lung disorders, since they are exposed to smoke etc.  It's a chance we all take, as know one knows what their lungs can take or not take.  I suffer from pulmonary fibrosis.  Have never smoked in my life.  I have small lungs I have been told from MRI.  Plus after  a freak accident, my body's immune system attacked itself causing Rheumatoid arthritis, then damaged my lungs causing the Pulmonary Fibrosis. I would leave the area where you are until the air clears.

[caregiver222]

I have taken a heavy feed many times as a volunteer firefighter decades ago, I can tell you the lungs and sinus passageways eventually clear themselves out. We used to cough up black material for days. I guess theoretically there are all kinds of possible problems, but a one time exposure shouldn't be cause for undue alarm. After a heavy fire the air becomes permeated with the smell of smoke and I doubt you will find an air purifier that will get rid of it. If you are near a burned out forest fire count on months of discomfort. Some people suffer more than others. If you can afford to do so, I would leave the area, at least for a few weeks.